Mission: Side Dish

Now that I have our entrees covered for the month, I really want to concentrate on making some yummy sides. I grew up in a home where the sides were some type of microwaved canned veggie and an iceberg lettuce salad. There was nothing inspired or exciting about it. Nothing tasty either! After I left for college, I realized that asparagus are not actually a slimy puke green worm and not all lettuce tastes like soap. Currently our sides tend to be a steam veggie and a spring mix salad. Its an improvement, but not overwhelming. There are often groans when i ask my kids to eat

So anyway that is my resolution for this year-- to come up with some yummy sides and interesting ways to prepare veggies that will make my family look forward to eating them.

My first attempt was stuffed baked tomatoes. My husband is not a big fan of tomato, so he was my challenge. If I could win him over then it would be a good addition to the recipe box.

The first time I made these - I cut the Roma tomatoes in half, and then removed the seeds. I chopped the seeds and the pulp and mixed it with mozzarella, Parmesan and basil.





Next, I sprinkled the tomato shells with garlic salt and spooned in the stuffing. I baked them for 10 minutes at 350 and then broiled them for a minute to brown the tops. this first round was a big hit with the kids, but not so much with my husband. He said that it still had too much raw tomato flavor. So I tweaked the recipe a bit and came up with this:

Stuffed Broiled Tomato

4 Roma tomato - halved, seeds and pulp removed
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella
1 tbls grated Parmesan
1 oz goat cheese
garlic salt
1/4 tsp basil

Place the tomato halves on a baking sheet and sprinkle with garlic salt. Mix the cheeses in a small bowl and spoon into the hollows on the tomato. Bake at 350 for 5 minutes and then Broil for 3.